The Walls Are Caving in With No Warning
by holygoof101
Summary: Stardom was what she always wanted so why does it feel like she can't breathe? And why is he always there with no warning? Rachel-centric future Finchel drabble oneshot.


A/N: So this is what happens when there's a story behind this story that I'm not going to disclose to the general public and I write something super cheesy that is pointless and didn't quite flesh out the way I wanted it too (which is my way of saying it should have gone in my 'nope' folder). Not that there's anything special or anything I couldn't tell about the true life back story it's just probably funnier and more poignant to those that know me. Add in a touch of insomnia and you get this. Anyway moving along we're just gonna say the title and everything else comes from Break Me Out by The Rescues.

0000

Stardom. It's what she's wanted her whole life. It's what she always knew she would achieve. It's her fate. It's the one thing she's never doubted, at least not seriously doubted. Stardom. It's what she's meant for. And it's what she's finally found. She thought she was prepared, she knew it was coming; she's known her whole life it was coming. She's been preparing her whole life. Now it's what she's found. Now it's what she's achieved. And now she's just now sure there was anything that could prepare her for this.

The one thing she never prepared herself for was to actually feel nervous. She never prepared herself to be dazzled and unnerved by camera flashes and people calling her name. She's taken herself for the girl who took slushies to the face in high school to the girl whose picture is being taken for an article in the New York Times. It's empowering and scary at the same time because she's Rachel Berry, and now that her last note on opening night has been hit to perfection it doesn't matter how far she's come she's still going to be waiting for someone to throw another slushy in her face. But she has to push that thought out of her mind because she's Rachel Berry, and she's just blow the Broadway world away with her performance. So there is a room full a slushy facial waiting for her on the other side of those hotel ballroom doors.

Instead there are people anxiously awaiting her arrival. People that want to be introduced to her. People that want a picture, or a quote, or to tell her how wonderful she was tonight. They're not high school bullies with slushies but they might as well be.

She's never been one to hide. Years ago she'd take a slushy to the face, and then walk proudly out of the bathroom after she'd washed the colored corn syrup away. But that was years ago. And taking a slushy to the face is nothing like this. All she wants right now is to hide. Not because she's afraid of a slushy to the face. Not because she's afraid of the crowd or the people or the accolades or the questions they make answer. Right now she wants to hide because she just needs a minute to take it all in. She needs a moment to absorb everything.

The problem is there are people everywhere and all those people know her name. So everywhere she looks someone is flagging her over or calling her name. And right now she just needs a minute and she can't stop herself from staring at the door she walked in because it's the only exit to the ballroom she's in. But she can't run out, because there are people calling her name, and she needs to keep flashing a huge smile for the camera. She's an actress now, so it's all part of her job. At least that's what she's going to keep telling herself as she keeps looking back at the door and slowly inching her way towards it. But it's two steps away for every step closer she gets and she's almost ready to admit defeat when the doors fling open and Kurt's there. Kurt's standing in to doorway and she's relieved at least for moment because the second she realizes there's a tall familiar frame right behind him it's like the little air she had left in the room full of people is sucked out and she can't even act like she can breathe. Because she can't breathe and it shows on her face.

She hates Kurt in that moment for not telling her Finn was in town. For not telling her Finn would be his plus one to her opening night gala. She hates Kurt for not warning her, or she would hate him if she could breathe and her mind wasn't screaming to run out the door while it's still open. She should have known by the way he kept dodging being her date all night. And if she really took the time to piece the last week together she'd have known all along. But for now Finn is there with Kurt, blind siding her and stealing all the air from her room. She's never been one to hide but now she wants to run like hell.

Kurt grabs at her arm as she tries to escape the room and she's not sure how she made it work but she manages to slip out as kiss him on the cheek as she darts from the room and into the foyer. She stands there for a moment trying to catch her breath, trying to breathe. But the click of the door knob behind her sends a scare through her and before she even knows what she's doing she's hiding a full story below in the stairwell. And she's still trying to catch her breath because she needs to go back up those stairs and into that room with her best Miss America smile.

"Hey," she hears his voice echo down the empty hallway and her head snaps back as his shoes make a loud noise trying to come to a stop a step above her. "Kurt thought maybe I should come find you. He's really sorry he didn't say anything. I can leave. I don't have to be here I just..." She watches as he pauses and wraps his hand around the back of his neck. "I just wanted to."

She motions her head for him to sit down and somehow manages to draw a breath in without it seeming shaky. "It's all really overwhelming. I mean I knew it would always happen. It's one of two things I've ever really wanted. And now it's happening and it's just really overwhelming."

"What's other thing you've always wanted? Maybe if you focus on that going back inside will be less overwhelming."

"The only other thing I've ever wanted was you."

There's a silence between them. She didn't mean it to sound like she was asking him for answering or to fix anything. He asked a question and she answered it honestly. Now she's still watching him like he might have an answer, and maybe he does because he's Finn and even when he never knew he had the answer he still did. But this time she's fairly certain he doesn't have an answer because he's taking his shoes off like he's getting comfortable for a long night. Which would be fine if they weren't sitting in the stairwell of an upscale hotel. But she can't help but smile at his relaxed attitude toward her freak out.

"What are you doing?" She asks with a quiet laugh.

He presses his finger to his lips, "Give me your shoes." He mouth moves but the words are barely audible and she tilts her head away from him causing his lips to repeat the same motion, "Give me your shoes."

This time she's certain she got the words right. He said "give me your shoes." It seems like an odd request, but he did follow her into a stairwell so she has no right to question his odd request. Therefore she removes her high heels and picks them up letting them dangle in the air in front of him for a moment before they disappear from her hands.

Her high heels disappear from her hands and into his, the backs of them slide up over his wrist as he hooks his own shoes around his fingers and stands up holding his free hand out to her, "Come on."

Her head shakes at him out of instinct, "Finn, I have..." She nods back towards the door, "I mean I can't... There's..."

"Shhh, if you keep talking someone's going to hear us." His head nods the opposite way hers did, motioning down the stairs. And it's that simple motion that she understands why he has their shoes in his hand; dress shoes on concrete make noise. Dress shoes on concrete make enough noise to be heard, to be caught when you're making an escape. And that's what he's offering her right now, an escape.

She's even more nervous now than she was when she walked through the fire exit doors, but she closes her eyes as she takes in a deep breath of courage. The people wanting pictures. The people wanting to praise her. The accolades and everything else she thought would make tonight special that will all still be there another day. But this moment, Finn standing there with his hand out to her, this moment may never come again. She stands up and takes his hand because this won't be something she lets pass her by in the name of being a star.

She shuts her brain; she makes her mind stop racing and shuts off all rational thought as she follows him down the stairwell. Maybe it's because the only thing she can really think about is how tightly he's holding her hand, and the way he keeps glancing back to make sure she's still with him as they make their way out of the hotel. She wonders if he keeps looking because he's waiting for her to let go any walk away. She's not going to do that this. He's saving her. She didn't ask him to but he is and she wonders if he knows that.

She doesn't get much time to wonder though because before she knows it they're on the curb outside the hotel and she's standing there putting her shoes back on as he runs across the street with his still in his hand.

"You coming?" He yells out to her before he leans his head inside the cab he managed to stop and he's putting one of his shoes back on as he flags her over in a frantic motion. His eyes are lit up like a child on Christmas, like the Finn she's always known. His eyes are lit up in the same way they always would be. His eyes are lit up like her Finn. She's coming. She has no idea where he's taking her, but it doesn't matter because he's standing across the street waiting with that same goofy half smile and looking at her the same way she always remembers him looking at her. So it doesn't matter where he's taking her because he's Finn and she's willing to go anywhere with him. She always has been.

They get out of the cab and move at right around a jog for long enough for her to break a sweat but he keeps a tight grip of her hand as they move through the park. She hasn't asked where he's taking her, and despite her instinct to explain to him the dangerous of the park at night, she doesn't question where they're going because the closer they get the more she's sure she knows. She's actually lived in the city long enough to know exactly where he's taking her, she's just not sure how he knows.

"You met me here once," he says quietly as they come to a stop on the bridge. "I don't know much about the city, but I know you met me here once." He licks his lips as his eyes turn from looking out over the water and bear down on her. "You met me here once. And I was standing all by myself waiting just as nervous as you were standing in that room full of people. I was waiting for you to come ease my nerves. And I should have done this as soon as you walked up."

She doesn't have time to fully process his words before his hand is grazing through her hair and his lips are against hers. But they are, his lips are against hers and they're strange but familiar. And she lets herself sink into the familiar feeling because all her nerves, all her worries about what people would think. About what people were going to day, all of that just disappears. It disappears and she's fifteen again kissing him in the auditorium, or sixteen kissing him in hallway, or seventeen kissing him at his house or any of the other times that she's kissed him because just like all those other times she's kissed him, times stands still. Her nerves disappear, the world disappears and she's just a girl kissing a boy she'll always love.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't ha-"

She doesn't let him finish. She silences the rest of his unnecessary apology and tells him it's okay by pressing her lips back against his again. And when they break breathless from another kiss leans her head her to his chest and for the first time all night she breathes. She really breathes for the first time in years. And they stay coiled together in a comfortable silence until the sun comes up over the bridge she met him on all those years ago. Because stardom will be there later. But this... This a moment she doesn't want to let slip by.


End file.
